NEW ORLEANS – Texas A&M junior Dominique Duncan and Sacramento State senior Lea Wallace were added to the women’s watch list for The Bowerman, the award’s watch list committee announced on Thursday. Duncan holds national top three seeds in the 100 and 200 meters and helped the Aggies to relay wins in the 4×100 and 4×200 at the Penn Relays. Wallace currently holds the NCAA’s No. 2 rank in the 800 and 1500.

The Bowerman Advisory Board appointed four of its members to comprise The Bowerman Women’s Watch Committee and another four of its members to make up The Bowerman Men’s Watch Committee. The Women’s Watch Committee will release their next update on Wednesday, May 19. The ten semifinalists will be named on Monday, June 21, and the three finalists will be named on Thursday, July 14.

THE BOWERMAN OFFICIAL WATCH LIST, 2011 WOMEN

(updated May 5, 2011, listed in alphabetical order, always ten names)

NAME

YEAR

SCHOOL

EVENTS

HOMETOWN

Jessica Beard

SR

Texas A&M

Sprints

Euclid, Ohio

LaKya Brookins

SR

South Carolina

Sprints

Seneca, S.C.

Ti’erra Brown

SR

Miami (Fla.)

Hurdles

Hampton, Va.

Dominique Duncan (N)

JR

Texas A&M

Sprints

Houston, Texas

Kimberlyn Duncan

SO

LSU

Sprints

Katy, Texas

Jordan Hasay

SO

Oregon

Distance

Arroyo Grande, Calif.

Tina Sutej

JR

Arkansas

Pole Vault

Ljubljana, Slovenia

Brianne Theisen

SR

Oregon

Combined Events

Humboldt, Sask.

Lea Wallace (N)

SR

Sacramento State

Mid-Distance

Napa, Calif.

Kim Williams

SR

Florida State

Jumps

Kingston, Jamaica

(P) – Promoted from “receiving mention” list this update(N) – New to either list this update

Jessica Beard, Texas A&MSenior, Sprints, Euclid, Ohio (Euclid HS)

OUTDOOR: Opened the season with a win at the LSU Invitational 400-meter dash in a collegiate-leading time of 51.55, taking victory by over a second-and-a-half. Beard has been on Texas A&M’s winning 4×100 and 4×400 teams at the Texas Relays and the winning 4×200 and 4×400 teams at the Penn Relays.

INDOOR: Beard made the Aggie faithful stand up and cheer for her performances at the NCAA Indoor Championships. In the 400 meters, Beard would twice record the best collegiate-mark of the year with a 51.64 clocking in the preliminaries and would top it with a 50.79 world-leading time in winning the national crown. Beard would win the event by more than 1½ seconds for Texas A&M’s first women’s individual national indoor crown in school history. With the time, Beard moved to third all-time on the American indoor list and second all-time collegiately.

Beard also anchored the 4×400 team to their second national crown in three years with a 51.08 split, leading Texas A&M to a 3:29.72 clocking, the best in the NCAA this year and the eighth-best all-time.

Also during the indoor season, Beard won an unprecedented fourth-straight indoor Big 12 title at 400. Beard was named Big 12 Performer of the Year as she also scored second-place honors in the 200 meters at the conference meet and anchored the Aggies to a fifth-straight crown in the 4×400. Her season’s best 200 time of 22.95 ranked sixth in the NCAA. Beard finished the 2011 indoor season undefeated in the 400 meters.

OUTDOOR: Claimed wind-legal, collegiate-leading time of 11.10 in the 100-meter dash at the Auburn War Eagle Invitational. Among wind-legal marks, Brookins currenly ranks No. 2 in the world in the event. Brookins also lead-off 4×100 squad that finished seventh at the Penn Relays.

INDOOR: Brookins won her second NCAA indoor 60-meter crown in 2011 by equaling the collegiate record of 7.09 in the event’s final. In addition, Brookins time ended the season as the world-leading time. In the preliminaries, Brookins would run a then-collegiate-leading time of 7.13. Brookins, who also won the title in 2009, becomes the first two-time winner of the event since LSU’s Muna Lee.

Coming into the NCAA meet, Brookins has the nation’s leading time in the 60 meters with a 7.14 run captured in winning the SEC title in the event. All told, Brookins won six-out-of-seven finals at the distance this year and has clocked sub-7.20 performances on six occasions, including the last five. Brookins also won 60-meter titles at the Tyson Invitational, the New Balance Collegiate Invitational, and the Texas A&M Challenge.

Ti’erra Brown, Miami (Fla.)Senior, Hurdles, Hampton, Va. (Hampton HS)

OUTDOOR: Winner of the ACC title in the 100-meter hurdles with a season-best clocking of 12.94, a time good for the top five in the NCAA this season. Finished runner-up of the 400 hurdles at the ACC meet and has a season’s best in the event of 56.91, claimed in winning Florida Relays title.

INDOOR: Known mostly for her 400-meter hurdle prowess, Brown overall had a light indoor season. However, that doesn’t mean she hasn’t been competitive. At the ACC Indoor Championships, Brown placed second overall in the open 400, and won her section of the finals, in a time of 53.25.

OUTDOOR: Duncan ran anchor leg of Texas A&M’s 4×200, which won Penn Relays for the fourth-consecutive year in a world-leading 1:29.96, the seventh fastest time ever run in the world and third fastest collegiate time ever. Duncan also ran on A&M’s winning 4 x 100 relay, which claimed a third straight Penn Relays title. During the Texas Relays, Duncan ran on the winning 4×100 relay, which won a third consecutive title with a collegiate leading 42.87.

In individual events, Duncan has posted a windy best of 11.05 in the prelims of the 100 at the Texas Relays and turned in a career best of 23.23 in the 200 meters, placing second at the LSU Invitational, while producing a windy best of 22.79 to win the Tom Jones Memorial in Gainesville, Fla.

INDOOR: Ran a personal best of 7.34 twice over 60 meters, and placed 4th at the Big 12 Championships. Set a career best of 23.03 in the 200 meters, finishing 4th in the Big 12 and 5th at the NCAA Championships.

OUTDOOR: Holds the NCAA’s No. 1 seed in the 200-meter dash with a wind-aided season-best clocking of 22.18 (w: 3.2) set at LSU’s Alumni Gold meet. The time is the best all-conditions time in the collegiate ranks since 1989 and third all-time. Ranks in the NCAA’s top three with wind-aided best from the Texas Relays of 11.05 in the 100 meters. Wind-legal season best of 22.76 in the 200 meters ranks third in the world. Member of LSU’s winning sprint medley relay at the Penn Relays.

INDOOR: The NCAA Indoor 200-meter champion won four-straight 200-meter finals during the season, dating back to her win at the Tyson Invitational during the indoor season on Feb. 12. After setting an indoor personal record of 22.78 in winning her first career Southeastern Conference title at the SEC Indoor Championships, Duncan became the first Lady Tiger since 2004 to take home the NCAA Indoor crown in the event with her run of 22.85 at the national meet. In fact, her indoor PR of 22.78 is the world’s fastest indoor 200-meter time in three years since former Texas star Bianca Knight set the American indoor record of 22.40 at the 2008 NCAA Indoor Championships.

OUTDOOR: Leads the nation in the 1500 meters with a 4:10.28 clocking at the Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational. Currently also sits second in the nation in the 5000 meters with a season best of 15:37.29 set at the Mt. SAC Relays.

INDOOR: Hasay would lead Oregon to a national team title with a meet-high 22 points at the NCAA Indoor Championships, scoring individual national crowns in the mile and 3000 meters and as anchor of the Ducks’ runner-up DMR squad. Hasay became the fifth overall and first to win the national mile-3k double since Northern Arizona’s Johanna Nilsson in 2006. Hasay won the mile at the NCAA Championships in a personal-best 4:33.01, a mark that is among the all-time top ten of American collegians. In the 3000, Hasay outlasted Villanova’s Sheila Reid with a 9:13.71 run to avenge a previous head-to-head loss to Reid in the DMR the night before.

Hasay clocked a 9:05.42 season’s best in the 3000 at the UW Invitational in January. Hasay was also the mile champ at the MPSF Championships. Hasay was selected by the nation’s coaches as the USTFCCCA National Women’s Track Athlete of the Year.

OUTDOOR: Leads the collegiate ranks in the pole vault with winning performance at the Texas Relays of 14-9 (4.50m). Winner of the Penn Relays vault title with mark of 14-7¼ (4.45m).

INDOOR: Sutej topped the collegiate record in the pole vault with a clearance of 14-10¾ (4.54m) in winning the SEC title in the event. Sutej broke the 2002 record of Amy Linnen Undoubtedly the most consistent in the vault during the indoor season season, Sutej cleared more than 14-6 (4.42m) five times this season and won seven-straight events. In addition, Sutej won the national crown in the event, becoming the first from Arkansas to win an indoor NCAA pole vault title as the only to clear 14-7¼ (4.45m) at the national meet.

INDOOR: Theisen twice set the collegiate record in the pentathlon in 2011 and won her second-straight NCAA crown in the event. Her score of 4,540 bettered her previous all-time collegiate-best mark of 4,507 set in January at the UW Invitational and ranked among the world’s top five in the event for the season. Theisen would earn personal bests of 6-½ (1.84m) in the high jump and 2:11.82 in the 800 meters en route to this season’s national crown. In addition, Theisen has won ten-straight combined-event competitions against collegiate competition through the 2011 indoor season.

Theisen also scored at the NCAA meet for the second-straight year as a member of Oregon’s 4×400 relay team.

At the MPSF Championships, Theisen sat out the pentathlon, but competed in four other events, including leading-off the Ducks 4×400 to victory, placing second in the high jump, and third in the 60-meter hurdles.

Theisen was also named the USTFCCCA National Women’s Field Athlete of the Year.

OUTDOOR: Ranks second in the NCAA this season in the 800 and 1500. Season’s best in the 800 of 2:02.95 came at home MONDO Mid-Major Challenge. Top time of 4:11.31 in the 1500 came at the Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational.

INDOOR: Wallace has emerged as one of the top middle distance runners in Div. I during her senior year. During the indoor season, Wallace owned the fastest time by a collegiate athlete in the 800 for most of the year with a school record of 2:03.07. She was the Big Sky Conference champion in both the 800 and mile and advanced to the NCAA Championships. Wallace has continued to shine during the outdoor season and currently ranks second in Div. I in both the 800 and 1500. Her time of 2:02.95 had been the fastest by a Div. I women this season for nearly a month before being dropped to second last weekend. Wallace also moved into second nationally in the 1500 after running 4:11.31 in her first race of that distance this year.

OUTDOOR: Won ACC titles in the long and triple jumps, sweeping both events for the third time at the conference meet. In addition, the triple jump title was won by Williams in each of her four years, indoor and outdoor in the league. Leads the nation in the triple jump with wind-aided triple jump mark of 46-9 (14.25m), set in winning the Texas Relays.

INDOOR: Williams became the first in NCAA D-I women’s history to win the national title in the triple jump for a third time. Williams in the 2011 version, used a 45-9¾ (13.96m) mark on her final attempt to post the best mark among all collegians for the season. However, it was not easy as Williams posted fouls on her first two attempts in the competition, but notched a 43-1¾ (13.15m) in round three to secure a spot in the event’s finals. In addition, Williams placed second in the long jump at the NCAA Championships.

Williams also netted impressive performances in both long and triple jumps at the ACC Championships. In becoming the first in ACC Championship history to win an event for a fourth time, Williams triple jumped to a collegiate-leading mark of 45-9¾ (13.96m). In addition, the previous day, Williams won the ACC long jump title with a leap of 21-6 (6.55m) – a performance that finished the season ranked No. 2 in the NCAA for the indoor season.

ALSO RECEIVING MENTION (28)

NAME

YEAR

SCHOOL

EVENTS

HOMETOWN

Nia Ali

SR

Southern California

Combined Events

Philadelphia, Pa.

Jackie Areson (D)

SR

Tennessee

Distance

Delray Beach, Fla.

Marie Louise Asselin

SR

West Virginia

Distance

Sarnia, Ont.

Joanna Atkins

SR

Auburn

Sprints

Stone Mountain, Ga.

Brigetta Barrett

SO

Arizona

Jumps

Duncanville, Texas

Gwen Berry

SR

Southern Illinois

Throws

St. Louis, Mo.

Colleen Felix

JR

Georgia

Jumps

St. Andrews, Grenada

Sheniqua Ferguson

SR

Auburn

Sprints

Nassau, Bahamas

Melissa Gergel

SR

Oregon

Pole Vault

Glenwood, Ill.

Semoy Hackett

JR

LSU

Sprints

Scarborough, Trinidad & Tobago

Anna Jelmini (D)

RS FR

Arizona State

Throws

Bakersfield, Calif.

Amber Kaufman

SR

Hawai’i

Jumps

San Jose, Calif.

Liz Lawton

SR

Chicago

Distance

North Easton, Mass.

Lindsay Lettow

JR

Central Missouri

Combined Events

Urbandale, Iowa

Chantel Malone

SR

Texas

Jumps/Sprints

Tortola, British V.I.

Gabby Mayo

JR

Texas A&M

Sprints/Hurdles

Raleigh, N.C.

Chantae McMillan

SR

Nebraska

Combined Events

Rolla, Mo.

Lauryn Newson

JR

Oregon

Jumps

Richmond, Calif.

Holly Ozanich

SR

UW Oshkosh

Throws

Green Bay, Wis.

Ashton Purvis

FR

Miami (Fla.)

Sprints

Oakland, Calif.

Sheila Reid

JR

Villanova

Distance

Newmarket, Ont.

Brianna Rollins

SO/FR

Clemson

Hurdles

Miami, Fla.

Faith Sherrill

SR

Indiana

Throws

Ft. Wayne, Ind.

Karen Shump

SO

Oklahoma

Throws

Media, Pa.

Neely Spence

JR

Shippensburg

Distance

Shippensburg, Pa.

Jeneba Tarmoh

JR

Texas A&M

Sprints

San Jose, Calif.

Kate Van Buskirk

SR

Duke

Mid-Distance

Brampton, Ont.

Lucy Van Dalen

SR

Stony Brook

Distance

Wanganui, N.Z.

(D) – demoted from the watch list this update(N) – new to either list this update

The Bowerman, which debuted in 2009, is presented annually by the USTFCCCA to the top male and female collegiate track & field athletes in the nation. Oregon’s Ashton Eaton and Virginia Tech’s Queen Harrison are the reigning winners of The Bowerman, which is named for legendary Oregon track & field and cross country coach Bill Bowerman.

Bowerman served the sport of track and field in numerous ways. His leadership in the USTFCCCA’s predecessor organization, the National Collegiate Track Coaches Association, and his contributions to NCAA track and field and the running community as a whole are among his many lasting legacies.